Military institutions have everywhere and always shaped the course of history, but womens near universal participation in them has largely gone unnoticed. This volume addresses the changing relationships between women and armed forces from antiquity to the present. The eight chapters in Part I present broad, scholarly reviews of the existing literature to provide a clear understanding of where we stand. An extended picture essay documents visually womens military work since the sixteenth century. The books second part comprises eight exemplary articles, more narrowly focused than the survey articles but illustrating some of their major themes. Military history will benefit from acknowledging womens participation, as will womens history from recognizing military institutions as major factors in molding womens lives.